18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 216

Afraid of wasting food, he didn't even peel off the purple outer layer of the squid, but washed it several times.

Moreover, Samuel deliberately dawdled, not eating, just hoping his father would eat a few more bites of meat.

Stella watched the squid, picking it up with her fork to examine the tentacles, "Dried squid?"

"Yes, it's a huge piece of squid, about a pound. I used a quarter of it for cooking."

A pound of dried squid? Stella was astonished. Ordinary farmed squid, when dried, was already considered large if it weighed about half a pound. Wild-caught ones, even smaller.

The flood destroyed the seafood farm, and wild squid in the sea couldn't possibly weigh so much. Even if there were any, they would have been caught long ago. After being brought ashore, they would be distributed according to their size, and the best ones would never end up in the hands of ordinary survivors.

Samuel explained, "No, the dried squid they sell is huge. Some even weigh more than two pounds."

Stella furrowed her brow, a sudden fear gripping her heart. She remembered what Jasper had said - extreme heat would cause the polar ice caps to melt, and ancient viruses were likely to invade the sea.

"Where did you get the squid?"

Samuel quickly brought out the remaining dried squid from the kitchen.

Stella was shocked. This dried squid was not only several times larger than what she had previously hoarded, but the purple outer layer was also thicker. There were several raised bumps on the squid, which were not very noticeable after being dried, but could still be identified upon close examination.

She sniffed it. It was indeed dried squid, but the smell was much worse than her hoarded ones. It had a particularly strong fishy smell.

"There's something wrong with this squid," Stella said seriously. "We need to induce vomiting, right now."

Without a stomach pump, they could only keep pouring water into Christian's mouth. Once he had drunk enough, he would naturally vomit. Then they would continue.

At first, Christian didn't want to believe it. But Samuel was so scared he started crying, almost begging him on his knees, "Dad, please listen to Stella. Mom is already gone, and if you leave too, what am I supposed to do?"

He was only seventeen, and after two years of natural disasters, he had grown up a lot. But at this moment, he was crying like a child.

Christian didn't want to leave his son. "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you."

He drank water and tried to vomit desperately.

Mark asked with a serious expression, "Stella, why do you say there's something wrong with the squid?"

Stella didn't hide anything and explained her suspicions about the ancient virus.

Mark was shocked. Over the past decade or so, the temperature had indeed been rising, and the polar ice caps were melting faster and faster. Scientists' concerns about ancient viruses had been reported in the media from time to time.

But ordinary people thought it was too far-fetched, and they would forget about it once they read it. They never thought that one day, it would really happen, and in a post-apocalyptic world where there was no medicine.

After drinking half a bucket of water, Christian was even throwing up bile.

Mark asked with concern, "Christian, how are you feeling?"

Christian was gasping for breath. His body was still in pain, but it was much better than before. "I, I didn't eat much."

It was not easy to get a bite of meat, so he wanted to save it for his son to eat more. He was in so much pain after only a few bites. If they had eaten the whole thing, his family would have been doomed.

Mark was sweating profusely. The coastal area was different from the inland and the grain-producing areas. The industry here was developed, but the geographical location was not suitable for building strategic grain reserves.

The reason many people still had food to eat after the disaster was that they had asked the sea for help.